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A Mountain Hike and Messy Middle
Slowing down to observe life when plans change
The late summer light is giving way to fall, like the slow turning of a dial. Everything is muted and yellow-gold. The light comes slanting gently into the kitchen at 5:00 pm when I’m wrapping up my work day.
There is a calm after storms, when all goes quiet. Such is the calm I suppose I am in. Recent storms — last-minute changes in travel plans, hastily rebooked flights — have meant that my husband Raja has gone off to visit family in Jordan without me, and I’m here at home in the yellow-gold light of early fall in Massachusetts.
It’s been hard to write lately, hard to run, hard to keep on top of texts and emails, hard to do much beyond just moving through a stressful time, which in itself takes energy. Pivoting to new travel plans seems to have zapped all my energy.
A lot of my friends are running marathons this fall. As these weeks are peak training time for fall marathon season, they are out on weekend mornings, running 14, 18, 20 miles. I see them on Strava and I give them Strava kudos.
Last Tuesday I slipped out into the chilly morning air before work and ran 2.5 miles and I was happy with that. I’m not comparing myself to the marathon-running friends. Or perhaps I am in a way, but not in the…
